


Love Like You

by TheSleepyDuelist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anime, Fanfiction, M/M, Voltron, klance, vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 13:39:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSleepyDuelist/pseuds/TheSleepyDuelist
Summary: A fanfiction exploring growing feelings from both Lance and Keith at the same time.





	1. Keith

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is from my Quotev account, which can be found here: https://www.quotev.com/Kiwikida   
> I haven't posted much there, but that is where this fanfiction is from! I am not stealing it since it is my own work, just moving it here. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Ever since the Garrison, there was a strange feeling that Keith couldn't shake. Something about Lance that he couldn't quite figure out made him feel like he belonged somewhere, for the first time in a while. He had been alone for as long as he could remember, and the only person that he really had a connection to was Shiro. He forgot everyone else when he was expelled from the Garrison, his memory not serving well for those he didn't really interact with. 

Meeting Lance back at the Garrison when they rescued Shiro was somewhat of an eye-opener for him. Keith didn't really understand people before, but his rivalry with Lance made him realise what it meant to be a person with friends. It was coupled with weird feeling. Something he didn't feel with anyone else.

Discovering that they were all Paladins of Voltron made Keith feel even more like he belonged somewhere. He had people he shared something with, and he was meant to make a team with them. It was like back when he was a student at the Garrison, but...it was different. They were part of a War and he needed to be co-operative and with the team. His short temper had to change. His feelings had to change. 

He had to become more than he had ever been.

And Keith succeeded. For a while, things in Voltron were fine. Everything was going fine. They had defeated the Galra numerous times, and the fight with Zarkon was coming up soon. Voltron was gaining a lot of followers, and the alliance against the Galra was stronger than it had ever been for the past ten thousand years.

Except Keith wasn't fine.

These feelings he had for Lance were growing stronger. The rivalry he had with him was becoming a front to mask his real emotions - things he had never wanted to feel. But he had grown to be able to cover them and make his own footprints in the sand vanish whenever he moved. It was something he had grown accustomed to.

And then Shiro went missing. 

It wasn't his fault. Keith knew that it was Zarkon, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't ready to lead the team. It's what Shiro wanted...but not what he wanted. He didn't want to be able to lead Voltron, the literal defender of the entire Universe. It was too much of a task to bear, and he couldn't do it. He couldn't.

Too many times he broke down thinking about how he couldn't handle it. Everything was against him. 

Lance was like some sort of beacon. It was as if things between them had simmered, and even though Lance was as competitive as ever, he still saw him as someone who he could look up to. He was emotional. He was  _human_. More human than Keith could ever dream to be. 

People looked up to Keith as the pilot of the Black Lion. They told him he was their leader now, and this was his job, but he couldn't keep up with the standards. If he could begin to be whatever everyone else thought of him, then he could do so much more than he already did. He wasn't Shiro. He couldn't be a leader.

But there was one person he could rely on.

Lance...despite his sometimes questionable actions, was there. He was insecure, too. About his abilities, about how he should leave Voltron when Keith found Shiro...but he shouldn't leave. Keith knew that much - out of all the emotions and feelings he had never really had before, he knew for certain that if anyone were to leave Voltron...it would be him. 

It broke his heart, telling the other Paladins that he had decided to stay with the Blade of Marmora. It broke his heart when he saw the expression of Lance, the one person he felt close to besides Shiro. There was no guarantee that Keith was ever going to come back, but he felt as if the Blade of Marmora was more for him rather than Voltron. He had been a hot-headed leader, someone who couldn't help the team, and someone who didn't deserve to be the Pilot of the Black Lion.

So when he left, he wondered why he wanted to stay. He wondered why out of everyone, he wanted to learn more about Lance. He wanted to see him at his best and worst, share his insecurities for longer and be able to do what he did. He didn't want to inherit all that Lance was but maybe he could learn from him. 

Keith was part Galra, and he had to accept that. He had to accept the harsh parts of him...amongst everything else. Leaving Voltron was one of the hardest decisions of his life. But it was for the greater good. His heart ached for the potential relationship he could have had with everyone else if he stayed, but what was the point if he felt like nothing was meant for him?

* * *

Ever since the Garrison, Keith felt as if his life had changed in some way. Even if it was for the worst, he accepted it. Meeting Lance and everyone else and becoming a pilot of Voltron was something he would never forget. Of course he visited them, of course he came back occasionally, of course he didn't permanently leave - but the ache in his heart stayed.

One thing he wished he did was learn to love like Lance had. He wanted to learn more about him, learn how he did everything and learn how he was able to see who he was and not be worried by it. He was the one that first comforted him when Shiro was gone, he was the one that told him it would be okay, he was the one that- ...did everything for him.

He woke his emotions up. Keith wished he stayed long enough to do the same, but destiny had other plans for him in this war. Maybe when this was all over he could learn more about Lance. The other Paladins. Make amends with everyone he had hurt. 

But for now...he was left wondering how he would ever be able to do right by everyone again when he came back after everything had been settled. After everything had been dealt with and he was able to realise what his purpose in this Universe was.

...Could he feel what he felt for Lance when they met at the Garrison again? Could he confess how his heart broke when he left Voltron? Would he be able to tell everyone how much he missed them? 

He hoped so.


	2. Lance

"I'd recognise that mullet anywhere!"  
  
And he was off. Running down the side of the cliff, heading towards where Shiro had landed. In the front of Lance's mind, he wasn't going to let Keith one-up him again. How many times had he been better than him at literally everything? In the Garrison, Lance could talk for hours about how much Keith was such a show-off.   
  
In the back of Lance's mind was that small, sinking feeling that he knew about too well. He was definitely a lady's man, through and through, but there was something about Keith that he couldn't quite get over. He was one of those pretty boys that Lance had always admired, and for a long time, he had looked up to Keith (as much as he didn't want to admit it).  
  
When they were discovering the Blue Lion and figuring out that they were part of Voltron for the first time, Lance could still feel the same pull to Keith as he did back at the Garrison. Of course, he didn't understand how to show his feelings. He was fond of Keith, even though he put up a front around him.  
  
The arguing, the fights - Lance wished he wasn't that way. As time progressed, he was able to open up more to Keith and in the end, he realised he was probably closer to him than the rest of the team. He had stopped telling him off so much, he had started to get along, and the feeling grew until-  
  
Shiro went missing.   
  
Keith was now the Black Paladin.  
  
Lance would be lying to himself if he didn't think of himself as someone who didn't deserve to be Keith's right hand man. That was why he had the Red Lion - he was going to be the person Keith listened to, the one he was closest to, and yet he didn't feel as if it should be him. Despite the growing bond him and Keith had, he...he couldn't bring himself to feel like he was an important part of the team.

When he asked Keith about the numbers, the reply he got wasn't what he expected. Lance knew that he wouldn't really be that important to the team. Allura was an amazing person; smart and decisive. Pidge and Hunk? Such brains and love, they were so good at tech that Lance didn't even understand half of their complicated garble. Shiro...when he got back, was the leader. He was always there to sort them out and Keith had the same qualities - except he hadn't realised it yet. Keith was...everything Lance wished he could be.

And himself? Lance wasn't that good at...anything. He could shoot some things but now that there was some trouble with the Lions and Shiro being missing, he wouldn't have a Lion any more. He would be a Seventh Wheel. 

But somehow, Keith's words reassured him. He was told that things would work themselves out and when he was leaving, he never felt happier. 

"Leave the Math to Pidge."

Keith was a great leader. No-one could replace Shiro, but Keith wasn't taking himself seriously. He was good at what he was doing and he  _deserved_  to be the Black Paladin.

...But then Keith left. Lance couldn't have been more upset when he left for the Blade of Marmora. The group hug was nice, and Lance would definitely admit that he didn't want to let go, but Lance just couldn't handle it. He had been close to Keith for so long and then he just  _left_. Sure, he felt as if he could do more in the Blade than he could in Voltron but that wasn't how it was!

That wasn't how it should have been.

* * *

Lance had waited so long for this. Keith had been gone for a while, and the loneliness was getting to him. It was funny how things turned out this way - the budding feelings he had hid for so long, the things he wanted to say to him...everything was going to be revealed. He didn't care about anything else. 

The meeting place was a planet they had been to before. Lance had planned this for a while, and so had Keith. Meet up on a distant planet and spill everything they had to say to each other, otherwise it would be too much. Lance had come up with the idea originally. Checking up on how Keith was doing in secret didn't work out well, all things considering. Lance wasn't very secretive.

In the present, Lance was waiting silently in his Lion - Red. He had been able to come up with some sort of excuse to leave for now, much to Allura's dismay. The team was sceptical of Lance going out on his own, but since he usually confided in Hunk and Pidge, they would probably be able to reassure the rest of the team about what Lance was doing.

It was only a few more doboshes before Keith would arrive. Lance stepped outside of his Lion, sitting down beside Red as he began to sweat. His mind held the weight of what he was about to do whilst his heart beat faster with the knowledge that Keith would probably not want to speak to him again after this. He didn't care. This had to be said.

Upon hearing the landing of a ship, Lance instantly stood up. There was only one person that could be aboard that ship - and he wasn't wrong about who it was, either.

When Keith got out, all Lance could think about was how he couldn't mess this up. His steps felt heavy as he made his way over, mostly watching his feet against the surface of the foreign but familiar soil. Looking up at Keith was hard. Those eyes of his held so much emotion that Lance wasn't ready for, especially when Keith had hugged him.

"K-Keith!" Lance mumbled, but he was happy for the embrace. Keith usually wasn't like this, so that meant that he must have really missed him. Unless it was something else Lance wasn't aware of. 

"Lance?" Came the expected call. Of course Keith was confused at Lance's surprise, why wouldn't he be? "You knew I was coming..."

"No, that's-" Lance smiled fondly, pulling away from Keith, "never mind. So, I guess..." the small feeling Lance had been trying to hide for a long time was welling up inside him. He took deep breaths to try and shake it, but his heart just kept pounding.

"We're here, huh?" Keith seemed to finish off his sentence. Usually, it was with an argument when they were at each other's throats, but Lance didn't mind now. He hadn't minded for a long time.

"Look, Keith," there was no point in holding back any longer, "I have to get this off my chest. It's the reason we came here, so I'm just...I'm gonna say it, and you're going to to just listen, alright?"

"Oh. Alright..." Keith seemed a little dumbfounded at the quick shift in topic, but he supposed catching up would happen after they both spoke their mind.

"Listen, I-..." How was Lance meant to say this without sounding awkward? "You know I like girls. And I know I like girls, that's just how I am! But, with you, something sorta snapped, y'know? N-not like I missed you or anything when you left Voltron. Well okay, we  _all_  miss you, but the point is-"

"Lance, you're rambling."

"Right, right! I just..." he sighed, and now defeated, turned his gaze away from Keith's, "I'm not sure how to word this without freaking you out, Keith. It could...ruin everything. Everything we've ever done together could all just turn to mush if I tell you this, even though that's what I set out here to do! It's so annoying!"

Lance couldn't tell, but Keith was smiling. Lance was going on and on, and he wasn't sure if he should confess everything he had ever felt for Keith or just tell him what he knew he was feeling _now_ , which admittedly was embarrassment and a little bit of frustration at not getting the words right.

"What I'm trying to say is-"

"Since the Garrison," Lance stopped talking and looked at Keith, about to tell him off for interrupting but he kept going, "I've always thought really highly of you, Lance. I didn't think anyone would ever make me feel the way you did. You made me feel as if I belonged, and even though with the Blade I've been searching for a purpose...I know that I have more than one. One of those purposes is with you, Lance."

And then suddenly Lance was blurting out things he never thought he would.

"I-...our bonding moment, I remember it. I remember it all. Our fights, everything we did, I know how it felt to me but not to you. The Garrison is a long time to keep this bottled up, but...I think I'm the same, Keith."

Simultaneously, they both understood where this was going. And on a distant planet, far away from home, both of them began smiling at the knowledge that what they felt was mutual. Budding feelings...growing to feel like they were useless, it was all the same. They were both the same.

Lance taking Keith's hand wasn't a surprise to them, either. Keith knew Lance was always very forward with his feelings, and this was no different. Keith gripping back just as tight made them both feel secure in the fact that maybe, just maybe, they really could be as the other expected of them. 

They spent a good few hours catching up, huddled beside the Red Lion as a mix of funny stories and emotions came tumbling out. Before they had to part, they shared an awkward, but well received, kiss under the darkening sky. Keith promised to visit, and Lance promised to make sure everyone was able to keep in touch in the future. 

But the one thing they made sure to say before they left, the one thing that they both had to affirm, was that they really were in love. And even though for so long they had wished to be able to be like each other, it was all over. There was no longer a need to want to love like the other.

Their untold feelings were finally spoken about...and it felt  _right_.


End file.
